# Why Quants Fail In Finance

1 Opinion February 5, 2018 Stern in the News ![Vasant Dhar](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/vdhar-article.jpg?itok=pbljmsFi) By Vasant Dhar > Everyone in this business makes the mistake of over-fitting at one time or another and they don’t realize it.

As the director of a PhD program in data science, I give all my students the same advice regardless of what they major in. – Data science and computing skills are the “new math.” If you don’t have a good analytical grounding in these areas, then you will be at a severe disadvantage.

For those aspiring to join a quantitative hedge fund, the same recommendations apply, but with an additional prerequisite: knowledge about financial markets. I’ve seen some very smart people flounder in finance because they don’t know markets and waste their time doing great science that is of limited value because they’re asking the wrong questions or making dubious assumptions about how their results will be implemented in practice.

Read the full article as published by *[e](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/its-time-to-crack-down-on-facebook-and-twitter-commentary.html)[financialcareers](https://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/306928/how-to-get-a-job-in-a-quant-fund).*

\_\_\_
*Vasant Dhar is a Professor of Information Systems.*## More Opinions by Vasant Dhar

- [Can AI Help Tame Religious Extremism?](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/can-ai-help-tame-religious-extremism)
- [DOGE is Using AI the Wrong Way.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/doge-using-ai-wrong-way)
- [The Paradigm Shifts in Artificial Intelligence.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/paradigm-shifts-artificial-intelligence)
- [Why It’s Time to Safeguard Against AI Liability.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/why-its-time-safeguard-against-ai-liability)
- [SVB Was a Hedge Fund in Disguise – And the Banking Crisis is an Overreaction.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/svb-was-hedge-fund-disguise-and-banking-crisis-overreaction)